It’s a good thing Metro Transit is now charging $2.25 for bus fare. I was concerned I was not contributing enough to their efficient schedule adherence, courteous drivers and general cleanliness. Next time the driver guns the engine when I’m obviously not even close to being seated, I can rest easy knowing my extra quarter has gone to good use.
—Sir Chasm
This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2009.
This isn’t elementary school. Drivers aren’t supposed to wait for you to sit your ass down. Don’t like it? Waddle faster.
you wouldn’t survive a big city like toronto or vancouver,there you hang on for dear life..we are spoiled living here in halifax…metro transit,please make your system more efficient,if not,im considering purchasing a car because i CANNOT rely on the bus as it is yoday..poorly run,bad tranfers and one per hour is pathetic.think like a big city…invest in a monorail magnetic system….
I have been on buses where the driver DOES wait until you sit as it should be…so if some of them can do it then all of them can do it…it should not be discretionary thing….. I always thank the driver for being….. human.
Its a pain in the ass the price has increased….
They should take the access money and start an after hours bus system like ahve them run 24 hours
I agree Jane at least on the more popular routes with a few feeders…we need to move into the 19th century already
mcgayle – transit buses are designed for standees, in case you missed the stanchions that are meant for passengers to hold onto. Ride a school bus if you want a bus meant for seated passengers only.
Metro Transit schedules are too tight as it is so waiting for every passenger to sit down would make it worse.
Jane – if you meant excess money, there is none. The farebox (tickets,passes & cash) revenue only covers some of the costs. The remainder comes from property taxes. Public transit is non-profit so excess funds aren’t exactly available.
I appreciate the buses are for standees as well…there is nothing wrong or timely to wait until someone has their footing for standing either…it is about being safe and courteous and since I know about half do it and they seem to be on time..being late is just an excuse for being unsafe and impolite….. Why would I ride a school bus…I am not in school?????
I bet you the next big law suit will make them polite ;0.
Awww poor baby, the first increase (only 25 cents), in five years. Look how much fuel and oil has gone up in costs plus labour, parts, etc.
Yup, a slight increase. Now there’s something to bitch about. Fucking wanker.
In Vancouver you better be standing at the door when the bus stops or the driver will keep going….I was shocked to see the bus come to a stop, then a passenger get up and walk to the door! I’m still not sure if I think that’s a good thing or not….as my level of impatience is still higher (even though I’ve lived here a year)
I went to visit my bro in LA….took the bus one day he was working to be out on my own…. I am sure I lost hair that day …as confusing as it was-too many transit systems at once……they still waited til I sat down…..
anyway 25 cents is diddly..though did enjoy reading the OP’s facetiousness…..it was true…
They have to make profit off of it somehow! the goverment not makign a profit….psssft I say they should set somethign up OR
We have all these train systems I say we get those in order from bedford to downtown its possible!
.25 a trip is alot if you added it up for one person thats an accesss 1.75 a week if taking the bus once multiply that by 100’s you get PROFIT
True Jane…I should have qualified…… for folks like me who do bus maybe 4 times a month…..I guess they figure with the bus pass-tax incentive they are doing YOU the favour?
http://www.transitpass.ca/tell_e.asp
Maybe if the Metro Transit had a NO IDLING policy they wouldn’t have to gouge an extra 25 cents from riders! Fuel is expensive…why are they not trying to cut their own costs?
We all know that idling is wasteful and is harmful to the environment. Am I the only one who cares that we are needlessly ruining the planet for future generations as well as teaching our young that our foolish ways are acceptable! Isn’t it enough to want a healthy environment so that our children, grandchildren and the rest of the human race can thrive?
Well the tax credit is great and all…..BUT it’s a percentage and once a year so it doesnt really help
I see your point Oceanlady no idling!
“Am I the only one who cares that we are needlessly ruining the planet for future generations as well as teaching our young that our foolish ways are acceptable! Isn’t it enough to want a healthy environment so that our children, grandchildren and the rest of the human race can thrive?”
Yes, and no.
OH I agree Jane….that is what I am saying ..the govt thinks they are doing YOU the favour with this shiny distraction of a credit that really aint nothing…
Well I spoke ad nausem when we spoke on idling before so will remain silent 😉
Oceanlady – in case you haven’t noticed the newer buses are air-conditioned, that only works when the motor is running, same goes for heat in the wintertime. Passengers have the right to a comfortable air temperature and even the driver is entitled to a warm/cool workplace if alone on the bus. It takes far too long to cool off or warm up the interior after being shut down for more than a few minutes.
I’ve said it a million times before: I’d rather a bus idle for 5 minutes instead of the driver discovering it won’t restart and that trip ends up being super late or cancelled while they try to get a spare bus brought over from Burnside.
Laypeople don’t understand the hassles of letting the air system rebuild pressure for the door, suspension, wiper and braking systems and seeing how buses operate on a 24-volt battery system you can’t exactly pull up with one of the supervisor cars to give the bus a boost.
The newer buses are far more fuel efficient and are equipped with diesel particulate filters to minimize soot output.
And Jane, no city transit system in this country makes a profit from farebox or subsidy revenues. It is supposed to end up being a break-even municipal service where part of the costs are covered through the fare box and the rest gets covered by the city’s operating budget.
The financial affairs of Metro Transit are open to the public so perhaps you could ask for some yearly balance sheets to see what the real picture is.
I think its going to be cheaper and more convienent to start looking into getting a car. Another $10 a month for service that I have to work around (ex. get the bus an hour earlier because the driver doesn’t keep the schedule and I always miss my conecting bus).This leads to extra childcare money too. I think people are forgetting that most families bussing have to pay more for themselfs and their kids. All this adds up when you are in the low working class. 120 for me, 120 for him, extra for the kids (bus during school year) yup nothing to complain about here.
mcgayle i got ya!!!
its offical i <3 mcgayle haha
honestly eff our bus sytem as it is crap
You could be worse off Jane. Try Fredericton Transit at some point. Hourly service in most cases, little service in the evenings and with some routes doing a 2 hour frequency, Saturday service is further reduced and no Sunday buses.
I grew up in a NB city where buses ran Mon-Wed 7am-6pm, then Thurs/Fri until 9:30pm and a 8-6 Saturday schedule. Those hours stayed in place until 6 years ago when they put 1 crosstown bus on evenings 6 days a week to try it out, then most of the other routes joined in to run until 10 or 11pm. Sat. service used to shut down for 90 minutes so drivers could get their lunch break and the company finally hired drivers to solve that issue. Sunday service is somewhat new, 2nd year running.
Metro Transit may not be perfect but even people in cities like Calgary, Montreal and Toronto still bitch about their buses even though they get more services for a lot more money.
$2.25 cash for a 60min. crosstown ride here is a bargain compared to $2.75 on a Montreal bus that is stuck in never-ending highway delays and takes 2+ hours.
“Maybe if the Metro Transit had a NO IDLING policy they wouldn’t have to gouge an extra 25 cents from riders! Fuel is expensive…why are they not trying to cut their own costs?”
Chances are if they had a no idling policy half the pieces of shit wouldn’t start up again.
$2.25 is a steal – I can travel from Downtown Halifax to BLT for that puny amount, you can just about get a decent coffee for that, it doesn’t even cover 50% of a beer.
Also, to the person discussing profit – transit is probabally the most subsidized public “instituation” after education. THe rider fee’s don’t cover the full cost of the operation. So, when the time comes to bitch – ie now, call up the feds as they are the ones who couldn’t pony up enough to cover the cost of operating the level of service you expect.
$2.25 is an awesome deal for what you get! I pay $109/month for transit in Toronto and think that’s a good deal as well. Or to just buy the single pass for $2.75 I can get from Scarborough (east end) to the airport (basically Mississauga), versus approximately $75 for a cab, and that’s if there’s no traffic. Or I could pay a few dollars in gas, then $84 to park at the airport for a day. True, this is a much bigger city than Halifax, but operating budgets are roughly the same everywhere. You cannot expect them to keep prices the same when their costs rise. You would have to pay in other ways, then you’d complain about that.
Re: the driver pulling away too fast – NONE of them would ever be on schedule if they waited for every person to sit down. If the rider has a disability, most of them will obviously have the courtesy to wait. For the able-bodied folks, they figure you can balance yourself enough where you won’t fall and hurt yourself. I get my face squished against the glass here every morning and supper rush hour, but still am grateful for the cheap choice.
holly fuck Dr.Fever you need to find something better to do with your time, every bitch has your asshole remarks on it and they’re never positive. get a life, seriously.
the transit system sucks ass here, it the worst I’ve seen from coast to coast, this is a legit bitch, you can seriously walk to your destination quicker then if you decide to wait for the bus to show up here, which it might or might not depending on how the driver is feeling that day.
oh yeah, Dr. Fever think before you comment for a change, it’s possible the OP is an elderly citizen and finds it hard to get seated in the four seconds they were granted to sit down because the driver has fallen behind schedule while reading the paper and having their smoke break. you’re an idiot.
yeah thats true the bus system in NB seems way worse
Actually, FAL, I’ve found if the person is elderly, they will stop and wait(keep in mind that I regularly travel on the bus). But as everyone else here has mentioned, they don’t have time for every able bodied person to sit their fat ass down before they take off. Also, if the person is that challenged in the mobility department, the person can sit in the front of the bus, where there are reserved seats. But if you’re just some meathead that just has a armload of groceries or shopping bags, you deserve no special treatment. Also, FAL, if you think that this is the worst transit system in the country you clearly have never traveled into places like Moncton, which has a miserable transit system. You cannot compare the transit systems of Montreal and Toronto or Vancover to ours. They have more money and a much bigger population to service. Given the level of service and how little funding they get from outside sources (our transit system is at the bottom of the list when it comes to federal and provincial funding) I think they do an okay job, given what they have to work with. Finally if you don’t like my attitude, all I can say is deal with it. I don’t see sunshine, rainbows, and ponies in every corner of existence. Fuck off.
Shit, good luck even finding something to hang onto on the subway during rush hour in toronto.
While I don’t have any issue with the driver pulling away before you get seated (it’s just the way things are on public transit), some of them DO pull away quite aggressively, which is kind of unnecessary (and is why my knee is fuk’d).
It is the aggressive drivers I am talking about too..It is almost like they get a charge out of it… no kneed of it…
get it…
OMG..I am here all week…LOL
I do find the buses here better than some places for the whole “waiting until you are seated” issue…At least they sometimes attempt to wait, especially if you are elderly. In Calgary, if you aren’t 80 years old, in a wheelchair, or on crutches, they take off the second you move past the yellow line.
The scheduling could definitely use some improvement…but overall I think they do an ok job. (I now drive, but took the bus for 2 years when I first moved here)
Good Bitch, Sir Chasm!
Ya know…………………………………for a bus bitch.
MT does have a no-idling policy, but there are a few reasons you may see it being disregarded. It could be 35 degrees in the shade, or -20. The HVAC units don’t run when the bus is off so sometimes we have to give them a shot. This, sadly, means idling. Also, I could tell you about the day I received a bus with a faulty starter. Not a chance I’m turning that bad boy off. If it can be done though, it is encouraged to shut off the bus.
As for the increase, I could see it coming, but I think they went a bit overboard with passes. In 2005, when fare went up a quarter, passes were only $3 extra (57 – 60). The $10 is too much in my opinion, but I just drive the buses.
I have seen soem billbards recently that say “beware of the idler (sp?)”
Ah yes, the billboards illuminated by coal and oil-generated power, the tree-huggers puzzle me at times.
“Don’t idle your engine but look the other way while we ask NSPI to belch out some more crap from their stacks to light up our message” 🙂
Those billboards are dumb…way to treat people like infants. Ooh! Don’t idle your car cause a scary monster lives in the tailpipe!
hahahahaa, I agree Mole Rat. the campy 60s/70s style sci-fi/horror style posters make me think a new comic is coming out or something. or a candy, something kiddish.
i’ve seen more adult displays from disney store and freak lunchbox.
and the no-idle commercials on the TV Guide channel with the kids lecturing the adults. i wish they’d do a new version the dudes in the car just roll up the window and ignore the kid or tell them to get lost.
lol
I can see it now. Metro Transit stops the idling, then the board will be full of bitches like – summer, “It’s too fucking hot in the buses” and winter, “it’s too fucking cold in the buses”.
VOR, I agree the “Greens” are an odd lot. Seems their CFLs aren’t what they are cracked up to be, the Smart and electric cars don’t seem to save energy in their manufacture, and what to do with the disposal of all those batteries. Stop using recyclable plastic grocery bags but buy plastic garbage bags.
I know billboards can be mis leading there was a bunch for Ripleys believe it or not!!! but no info
Are we getting one?
We are! Believe It Or Not.
i wish!!!
i want their to be a Believe It Or Not museum here!!!
Make it happen!
great feedback, folks.
especially interesting the idling issue.
i’m aware of the fares in other cities, but i’m just talkng about halifax buses, not those of other cities who have a subway option.
dr. fever, we should meet so you see that ‘wandling’ is not something i need to do. but then you come off as an a-hole every time you post. i’ll bet you sit in the senior’s section while pensioners stand around you.